Israel receives less and less European research funding

Israel is taking part less and less often in Horizon Europe research: funding has more than halved. European countries are less willing to collaborate with Israeli institutions.

The European programme Horizon distributes more than thirteen billion euros a year to scientific research. The programme includes 23 ‘associated’ countries, in addition to the 27 EU member states. Israel has also been taking part for years.

But because of the war in Gaza, that cooperation is under pressure. In the Netherlands, the KNAW is calling for Israel to be suspended from Horizon. The European Commission wanted to exclude Israel from the innovation programme within Horizon Europe, but that proposal was voted down.

Although the country is still allowed to take part, its success within Horizon has fallen sharply, reports the European news site Science Business. In 2022, Israel received 303 million euros in grants. Last year, that was only 119 million euros.

Outlier

These figures do need some qualification. “The year 2022 was an outlier”, says Joep Roet, deputy director of Neth-ER, the interest group for Dutch knowledge institutions in Brussels. The Netherlands also received almost twice as much funding that year as last year. But the funding for Israel has shrunk much more sharply.

Because of delays, Horizon Europe could only start later. Roet: “Part of the funding from 2021 was only allocated in 2022. On top of that, extra funding for Horizon was made available from the coronavirus recovery fund.” So absolute figures do not tell the whole story, but Israel’s participation is declining.

Links with the military

Fewer and fewer universities are willing to collaborate with Israeli institutions, because of their links with the military. In the Netherlands, several universities have suspended ties with Israeli universities and companies, such as Radboud University, TU Delft and Utrecht University. Leiden also decided this week to review its ties.

Israel also received fewer ERC grants over the past year, for which individual scientists can apply for funding. With an average success rate of 21 per cent, Israel was for years a front-runner, but the number of grants awarded has dropped significantly. In 2022 there were still 118 funded projects; in 2025 there were only 42. An ERC spokesperson told Science Business that Israeli research proposals were simply not as strong over the past year.

In principle, research proposals are assessed solely on quality, but evaluators can see where applicants come from. In another context, an ERC working group recently warned that a scientist’s country may influence their chances.

Isolation

Israeli universities warn that cutting ties will lead to the isolation of Israeli academics, including scientists who are critical of the Netanyahu government.